Rose
by AutumnsFey
Summary: Tsuna encounters something a little unusual that brightens his day. Short and mostly sweet.


**Life had become a bittersweet experience.**

More bitter than sweet, really. On most days, he looked into the mirror and asked himself what kind of trouble, of bad karma or undeniable disaster would await them that day.

The years of simply dreading his bullies had long since passed, and where before his schoolmates hatred had been the source of his bruises and cuts, now those dark blooming colours and fading scars were painted on his skin by rivalling Mafioso Famiglias, single-minded in their intend on not only taking out the Vongola Decimo heir, but his entire bloodline. Had it only been him they targeted, he probably – most certainly - would have given up somewhere along the way, maybe he would have said enough and just stopped moving out of the way of bullets, knifes and deadly strikes – but the key words here were 'only him'. Those bastards went too far. They threatened those he loved and cherished, which … which made that option impossible.

How could he give up, knowing that his surrender spelled the end of so much more than himself?

The answer? He couldn't. Ever.

Instead of giving up, he gave in.

He got up in the morning.

He went to school.

He spent time with his friends, his guardians.

He paid attention to Reborn's Mafia etiquette lessons.

He fought against trained killers who were contracted to bring his corpse to their employers – only to end up dead themselves.

So yes, life had turned into a bitter experience.

But then again, there were those moments of sweetness … the flickers of light in a dark cold world.

And every time that sweet taste blossomed on his tongue, every time it brought along this second of absolute bliss and positive surprise …

He took a deep breath, felt his heart beating.

Because a bittersweet life was still a life worth living.

You just had to learn how to cherish the rare sweet moments.

**Sawada Tsunayoshi would never get over how simple things, daily happenings** … how something as mundane as accompanying his mother on her shopping trip could turn into a precious memory.

Not that spending time with his mother wasn't precious itself, but …

He never thought he would find something so inherently beautiful and memorable in a small flower shop that it would bring a flicker of sweet brightness to his stressed day.

**Tsuna sighed as his mother rerouted to the florist shop.**

His feet arched, and his arms must have gotten longer from the heavy bags tangling from them.

They had been shopping for the last three hours, and he was just so freaking tired. But at least this would be their last stop – Kaa-chan always saved the flower shop for last, she didn't want to put the delicate flowers through too much roughness or let them suffer from of water.

The bell above the door chimed, and Tsuna followed his mother into the shop as she happily greeted the young woman attending the cashier. He looked around the room, and took in all the flowers lining the walls, the pots strategically placed on the ground and bouquets already artfully arranged.

White and red roses, carefully nestled in-between a sea of green leaves. A lover's gift.

A single sunflower surrounded by yellow roses and orange gerbera. A dedication to the summer.

Two red tulips, bound by a red cord. The double meaning of emotional connection and sincere love, the red string of fate uniting them.

Three white lilies bound together with white bell-like flowers, delicate yellow ball flowers and fern. Sadly, he knew that kind of bouquet; consolation.

Over the years, Tsuna had learned a few things about the language of flowers. Not much, mind you, but quiet enough to not buy an insulting bouquet for certain occasions – it would be embarrassing to exclaim once sincere love and attraction at a funeral. Or, for example, the colour coordination of roses. For Tsuna, roses were something special, and the colour mattered a lot. Red stepped into passion, pink into puppy love. An orange or yellow rose could be gifted to friends.

His mom had always made sure that he knew what was acceptable on which occasion. They had been going here for as long as he could remember.

Slowly walking through the room while his mom selected the flowers she wanted for their home, he took in the sea of colour flooding his vision, their vibrant hues, and their sweet and tangible scent. It was soothing. Something about this place always seemed to reduce the stress headaches that plagued him as of late.

Stepping around the corner into the next section, he stopped short.

His eyes widened.

He blinked.

And blinked again.

No illusion, then. It was still there.

He let the bags sink to the floor as his feet stepped forward on their own accord, bringing him nearer to the object of his fascination. The sweet scent of roses tickled his nose, and his wide eyes stayed fixated on the miracle before him.

There, sitting in a vase in the middle of the rose section, was something he had never seen before.

Rainbow roses.

Not multi-coloured roses, like yellow-edging-into-orange, or white roses with a red edge. No.

This was the apparition of a true rainbow.

Every petal had a different colour. One was yellow, another blue. Pink sat next to green, and orange cuddled up to lilac.

Were they painted?

His hand, already outstretched, froze hovering over the petals, afraid to touch the miracle.

" They are real."

Tsuna shrieked.

He whirled around and stared up at Yamada-san, a hand clutched tightly over his heart as he stared wide-eyed at the old man standing next to him. But Yamada-san simply smiled at him, his laugh-line marked face amused as he pointed to the rainbow roses.

" Konnichiwa, Yamada-san", Tsuna greeted breathily.

" Konnichiwa, Tsuna-kun. I see you found our special roses."

Tsuna nodded, his eyes once more drawn to the rainbow roses.

" Are they … are they really not painted or sprayed?", he asked carefully, not wanting to offend the cheerful old man.

Chuckling, Yamada-san shook his head.

" No, they are actually raised like this. You know, I never could find out how they do it, but if you look at the stem", and Yamada-san took one of the roses carefully, holding the cut stem so that Tsuna could see it. " You see that there are small holes in the stem. I think that after they are mostly grown, they are cut, and then put into special breeding vases, where they are injected – maybe with paint, or other substances that cause the colours to emerge."

Tsuna nodded thoughtfully.

" But why are the petals different colours, if they are injected with paint or something like that? Shouldn't the colours mix?"

" Ah, now that's a good question, and it is the reason why I think they actually need to be carefully injected: Every flower has a genetic make-up, just like us, and the injections seem to target different sequences of that make-up, causing the colours to emerge at random. It is something we see in cross-breed flowers, and I'm sure that the concept carries over. One particular colour-injection should be able to influence different petals all over the blossom, which are all originating from that manipulated DNA sequence in the stem. It seems random, but I'm sure that it is carefully calculated."

" Wow ...", Tsuna breathed out, entranced.

A hand patted his head.

" Yes, it is amazing. To create something so beautiful ...", the old man trailed off and sighed with fondness. " Care, devotion and love are the key, wouldn't you agree? To create such harmony from a plethora of different hues?"

Slowly, Tsuna nodded.

Care, devotion and love …

Yes. Harmony didn't always happen just like that, as if it was a natural phenomenon, but even when harmony wasn't exactly easy to achieve, it could be found with enough patience and effort … even the most different of people could achieve harmony …

Tsuna's eyes burned, and he swallowed.

" Yamada-san, may I take one of them?", he asked, his voice wavering.

Humming, the old man reached forwards, putting the flower in his hand back and searching for a different one. Tsuna knew that normally the brightest, most colourful one would be taken, and he was surprised because instead Yamada-san selected a still half-closed rainbow rose, gently gripping the stem.

" You need to break of the leaves once you are home, they wilt fast."

The rose was gently placed in his hands.

" Yamada-san?"

The old man hummed and just looked at him.

There was no judgement, no demand or expectation in the old man's kind eyes.

Tsuna startled as he felt a single tear run down his cheek, and quickly whipped it away. The old shop owner's smile turned wistful as he looked at Tsuna, something sad and understanding in his eyes.

" Watch it bloom, Tsuna-kun. Look at the colours as they blossom to life, and simply enjoy them."

Swallowing heavily, Tsuna nodded and gripped the stem tighter.

" Doumo arigatou", he bowed and half-turned to the counter.

A hand on his shoulder stopped him.

" Take it as a gift, Tsuna-kun", the old man smiled. " Sometimes we all need a spot brightness in our life."

Blinking quickly against the tears building in his eyes again, Tsuna bowed deeper, his hand trembling as he choked out: " Arigatou gozaimasu, Yamada-san."

He knew the old man good enough not to argue: the last time he had tried, he had been hit with a stick for being disrespectful of his elder's wishes.

Yamada-san's eyes sparkled, clearly also remembering the occasion.

" Good boy."

Tsuna blushed.

" Tsu-kun, time to go home!", his Kaa-chan called.

He quickly bowed again.

" Genki de, Yamada-san", he said goodbye.

" Genki de, Tsuna-kun", the old man returned.

Tsuna clutched the rose tightly even as he took a hold of the bags again.

… but never tight enough to break the delicate stem.

**Care.**

Devotion.

Love.

Tsuna smiled to himself.

A small piece of harmony.

Even if life was often bittersweet, even if the seventeen year old boy dreaded his coming birthday, the inevitable move to Italy, the pain that would never leave his life, the danger his existence put his precious people in … even if the bitterness so often coloured his world a bleak dark grey …

For those sweet moments of brightness, it was all worth it.

For a simple smile.

For a joyful laugh.

For a rainbow-coloured rose.

You only had to see the moments of beauty around you.

_**~ The End. ~**_


End file.
